A Nightmare on Prescott Street
by Kohala
Summary: Phoebe receives multiple premonitions of a haunting involving her sister, but for some reason sister doesn't remember it. The sisters are forced to figure out which demon they're after while battling their own inner demons.
1. The Premonition

A small girl sat in the middle of a large playroom. The girl couldn't have been more than eight years old and she looked small for her age. Her hair was done up in two, neat pigtails. She looked as though she had been colouring in a tattered old colouring book, but her focus was elsewhere now. The hand in which she was holding a bright red crayon was trembling uncontrollably.

The floor creaked loudly in one of the corners of the room. The child tried to calm herself down with positive thoughts. Old houses creaked, right? There was no reason for her to be scared.

A Cabbage Patch doll fell from its perch upon a shelf on the wall in the corner. It landed hard on the floor where the creaking had been heard before. Small beads of sweat began forming along the little girl's hairline. Her grip tightened on her crayon, causing it to break in half. She looked at the broken crayon and placed it on the floor.

She considered running out of the room and going downstairs to where the babysitter was watching an episode of 'Joanie Loves Chachi' that she had recorded the night before. The thought was tempting, but she was a big girl now. She wasn't supposed to be scared of these kinds of things any more. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Brushing the red crayon aside, she picked a blue crayon out of the box and resumed colouring.

The creak in the floor seemed to move closer to her. They almost sounded like footsteps, but the little girl was alone in the playroom. No one else was home yet besides the babysitter. She glanced over at the corner where the sounds had originated, then back at her colouring book. She thought she had been paying attention to what she was doing, but when she looked at her picture, she realized that she must not have been. There were random blue scribbles all over the place.

"A four year old could have coloured this page," she thought to herself. She pushed the book and the box of crayons aside and stood up. She began moving toward the door of the playroom, trying to be as nonchalant as possible. She wasn't running away, she thought, she was just going to get a glass of juice from the kitchen.

An ugly clown doll began laughing behind her. She continued walking, trying not to pay attention to the doll. She had always hated that clown. Children's toys are not supposed to be creepy, but that clown was definitely just that. She could hear a few small objects drop on the hardwood floor. She looked back to see what had fallen. The crayons that she was sure she had left neatly in the box were now scattered all over the floor.

She turned to run out of the playroom, but the door slammed in front of her. She grasped on to the doorknob and desperately tried to pry the door open. The clown doll began laughing again. The little girl's eyes began to sting as tears started to well up.

"Lucy!" she called. Maybe she could get the babysitter to come upstairs and let her out. The wind probably forced the door closed and this doorknob always sticks. She tried to fight back the tears and convince herself that she was being silly. It wasn't working and the incessant laughing from the creepy clown was not helping. She could hear the babysitter making her way upstairs. She really wished she would hurry.

Something grabbed the little girl by her pigtails and pulled her away from the door. She landed hard on the floor and was dragged to the center of the room. She screamed. She knew she wasn't imagining things anymore. She scrambled to her feet and made another escape attempt. She could hear the babysitter running up the stairs now. The little girl would be safe soon.

She was lifted into the air by an invisible force. She looked down at her feet, which were dangling just a few feet from the floor. The force that was holding her up soon sent her flying across the room. She hit the wall and slid to floor. She could feel a bruise beginning to form on her cheek, which had connected with the wall upon impact.

The force grabbed her by the neck of her shirt and pulled her back to her feet, hard enough to rip the neckline of her shirt. Once again, she was thrown against the wall, causing her to lose consciousness.

Phoebe sat up in bed. She was breathing heavily and was drenched in sweat. She was new to her power and this was the longest, most vivid premonition she had ever witnessed. However, it wasn't the nature of the premonition that bothered her the most; she was used to that. The part that bothered her the most was Lucy. Lucy had babysat her and her sisters ages ago when Grams had decided to get a part-time job, but nothing like her premonition had ever happened when she'd be in the playroom.

There was definitely something supernatural happening at Lucy's house now and Phoebe knew that she and her sisters would have to do something about it. After all, that's why she had the premonition in the first place, right?

She looked over at the clock beside her bed. The bright red numbers read 6:30. She decided she would break the news to her sisters in another hour or so when they got up to go to work. She closed her eyes and tried to get back to sleep. There was no point in getting up yet, especially if she could still cram in another hour of sleep.


	2. Enlisting Help

Phoebe stretched her arms above her head and yawned. She rolled out of bed and looked over at the clock. She had slept in until 10am.

"Crap," she mumbled to herself. She should have known better than to go back to sleep without setting the alarm. She wasn't too worried though. Her premonition had to have occurred sometime after three o'clock. The little girl in her premonition was definitely old enough to be attending school, which left Phoebe with enough time to contact her sisters and get them to come home. Plus, Lucy's house was only a few blocks away.

Phoebe made her way down to the kitchen and poured herself a cup of coffee. Sure, the coffee had been sitting in the pot since 8am, but she didn't feel like making a new pot. She pulled the phone out of its cradle and sat on one of the kitchen chairs. She dialled the number for Buckland's and waited for her sister to pick up.

"Buckland's Auction House, Prue Halliwell speaking," came a familiar voice over the phone.

"Hey Prue," said Phoebe. "It's me."

"Oh, hey Pheebs," said Prue. "Did you just get up?"

"Yeah," replied Phoebe. "Just one of the many perks of being unemployed." She knew Prue was going to interject with a comment like 'you should go out with resumes' or something along that line, so Phoebe quickly continued. "I had a premonition this morning. This one hits pretty close to home."

"Why? What's going to happen?" Prue asked. She had lowered her voice slightly to keep anyone outside her office from hearing.

"It took place at Lucy's house. Remember? Our old babysitter?"

"Lucy Apostle? Yeah, I remember her," replied Prue. "Is something going to happen to Lucy?"

"No," replied Phoebe. She got up and dumped her coffee in the sink along with the rest of the contents in the coffeepot. "There was a little girl, I think seven or eight, she was being thrown around the playroom like a rag doll."

"Oh," said Prue sympathetically. "Any idea who the little girl was?"

"No, unfortunately," replied Phoebe. "I couldn't really make out a face. The faces in my premonition were kind of blurry."

"Did you get a time?"

"It had to have been after three," replied Phoebe. "She must attend the same elementary school that we did." She placed her cup in the dishwasher and began walking back upstairs to her bedroom.

"All right," said Prue. "I think I can probably leave at 2:30 at the earliest. I'll meet you in front of Lucy's house."

"Sounds good," said Phoebe. "I'll call Piper and see if she can meet us there too."

"Uh, ok." Said Prue. Phoebe could tell she sounded preoccupied. Someone must have come into her office or something. "I have to go. I'll see you later."

"K, bye," said Phoebe. She pressed the 'off' button on the phone and threw it on her bed. She was going to have a quick shower and get ready. She figured she'd go to Quake to talk to Piper instead of phoning. That way, she might be able to score some free food rather than pick leftovers out of the fridge.

Piper looked completely stressed out when Phoebe arrived at Quake. She had the phone tucked between her ear and her shoulder and was weaving steadily through the crowd of people. In all of the time Piper had worked at Quake, Phoebe had never seen it so busy. And by the looks of it, Piper was severely short-staffed.

"Super-sister to the rescue," Phoebe muttered quietly to herself. She ran to the kitchen and grabbed a pad of paper and a pen. She walked back to the front desk and looked over the seating schedule. Piper had circled a few tables with red market, which usually meant they were tables that did not have someone to wait on them. Normally, Piper would serve those tables, but she definitely looked incapable of waiting tables at the moment.

Phoebe memorized the circled tables, then moved through the restaurant to take peoples orders. She'd waited tables during high school and during her time in New York, so she had no problem getting into the swing of things. She dropped off the orders for each table in the kitchen, then grabbed a pot of coffee. Piper caught a glimpse of her sister and immediately looked relieved.

"Thank you," she whispered as Phoebe walked passed her, then quickly returned to her phone conversation. "No, I'm absolutely positive I didn't order 260 crates of mushroom soup. What would I possibly need with… excuse me?" Phoebe tried her best not to let Piper see her laugh.

As the lunch crowd began to filter out of the restaurant, the tension seemed to alleviate. Soon, all of Phoebe's tables were empty, allowing her to leave her role as a waitress.

"Oh my god, you are a lifesaver," Piper sighed as she embraced her sister. "What would I have done without you?"

"You would have had a lot of angry customers and 260 crates of mushroom soup," replied Phoebe humorously.

"Not funny," said Piper. She stood back and looked at her sister. "Now, what are you doing here?"

"We have a problem to deal with," replied Phoebe. "Around 2:30 –3:-00."

"What kind of problem?" asked Piper. She motioned Phoebe to follow her to the back office.

"One of those special kinds of problems that only the three of us can deal with in our special little way," replied Phoebe. One of the chefs gave her a confused look as they walked by. Piper and Phoebe walked into the office and shut the door.

"Subtle," said Piper sarcastically. "What are we dealing with?"

"I'm not sure exactly," replied Phoebe. She jumped into Piper's chair and let it spin a few times. "Something invisible. But whatever it is attacked a little girl at Lucy's house."

"Lucy?" asked Piper.

"Our old babysitter," replied Phoebe. "You remember Lucy, don't you? You spent more time there than me or Prue did."

"Yeah, because you always had detention and Prue had to take the bus from her school," said Piper. "I never did understand how a grade one student could end up with so many detentions."

"It wasn't my fault!" said Phoebe defensively. She stared at Piper for a few seconds, then let her guard down. "Ok, maybe it was. But anyway, do you remember anything weird ever happening at Lucy's house?"

"No," Piper replied quickly. "You know what Pheebs, I'd really like to discuss this, but I've got a lot to do right now. Can we maybe talk about this later?"

"I guess," replied Phoebe. She gave Piper a skeptical look and stood up. "So, you'll meet me and Prue at Lucy's house at 2:30, right?"

"Uh, sure," replied Piper. She seemed to be focused more on the paper she was holding than the conversation she and Phoebe were having. "I'll see you later."


	3. Investigating Lucy's House

Phoebe and Prue stood impatiently near Lucy's front gate. It was nearing 3pm and Piper still hadn't shown up. It was unusual for Piper to be late. She was usually more punctual than either of her sisters. Prue looked down at her watch, then back at Lucy's house. The house looked as though it hadn't been occupied in years. A few of the windows on the upper level were broken and most of the siding was rotten.

"Are you sure your premonition took place here?" asked Prue. "I don't think Lucy even lives here anymore."

"It was definitely here," replied Phoebe. "I recognized the playroom. It looked the same as when we used to come here." She stood silently and thought for a moment. "You know, now that I think about it, the playroom was exactly the same. All of the old toys were there and I could have sworn I heard 'Joanie Loves Chachi' in the background."

"They play repeats of that show all the time," said Prue skeptically. They both looked hopefully at a passing car. It wasn't Piper.

"But the toys," said Phoebe. "Those toys should have looked old. They looked like Lucy had just purchased them."

"So what are you saying Pheebs?" asked Prue.

"Maybe my premonition isn't of the future," replied Phoebe. "Maybe it already happened." Prue raised one eyebrow and stared at her sister.

"That doesn't make sense," she said finally. "How are we supposed to help an innocent if it happened, like, ten years ago?"

"I don't know," Phoebe groaned. "I can't control which premonitions I get." Their conversation was interrupted abruptly as Piper drove up beside them. She got out of the car and walked around to greet her sisters.

"You're late," said Prue immediately. "What took you so long?"

"I got caught up at Quake," replied Piper. She looked over at Lucy's house and crossed her arms. "Are you sure this is the right place?" Phoebe sighed and nodded her head.

"I'm positive," replied Phoebe. "But I'm starting to think my premonition happened a very long time ago."

"Then why…" began Piper.

"I don't know," Phoebe interrupted impatiently. Piper looked at her questioningly. After agreeing that there was no point in investigating the old house, the girls crawled into Piper's Jeep and drove home. Phoebe sat on the couch, feeling defeated. She didn't understand why she would have received a premonition of the past. Maybe the ghost was still in the house? Maybe there was something that they needed to know about the little girl? She sat for over an hour trying to decipher her premonition. She eventually gave up and wandered around the house to find her sisters. They both must have gone back to work because Phoebe soon realized that she was alone in the house.

Phoebe wandered absently outside and grabbed her bike from the driveway. She cycled around aimlessly and soon found herself back in front of Lucy's house. She opened the front gate and pushed her bike through. She leaned the bike against the inside of the fence and moved toward the front door. She knocked first, even though she was pretty certain there would be no one inside. Trying the doorknob, she found the door to be unlocked and she let herself in.

The house looked exactly like it had when Lucy had babysat her and her sisters. All of the furniture was intact, but very dusty and faded. It still smelled faintly of cigarette smoke. Lucy always smoked when she watched TV. As she roamed around the living room, she noticed a picture of Lucy with Grams. The two of them were smiling and holding a bowling trophy. Phoebe had completely forgotten that Lucy and Grams had bowled together for awhile.

Phoebe continued to roam around the house. She moved toward the stairs and grabbed onto the railing. Without warning she was thrown into another premonition.

The little girl was up in the playroom again. She was standing with her back against the door and was trying to turn the doorknob. The ugly clown was laughing again and random toys were falling off of their shelves or sliding across the floor. The little girl turned and desperately pried at the door. She tore the door open and attempted to run for the stairs. She was lifted into the air suddenly and thrown down the stairs. The girl screamed as she flew through the air. She landed on one of the bottom stairs and tumbled down the rest of the way. She hit the bookcase at the bottom of the stairs, causing picture frames, trinkets, and books to fall on her.

Her face was a mess. She had split her lip and had a deep gash through one eyebrow. Lucy ran into the room and moved swiftly over to the little girl.

Phoebe stepped away from the staircase and backed toward the front door. Her premonition may have been of the past, but she definitely didn't want to see if whatever that thing was was still upstairs. Not without her sisters anyway. She quickly walked outside and got back onto her bike. She sped home, hoping that her sisters would be there. She couldn't wait to tell them about her premonition.


	4. Suspicions

Phoebe told her sisters about her premonition the moment that she had arrived back at the manor. She found them both in the kitchen preparing supper. As the chef of the family, Piper was doing most of the work. Prue was mainly following directions and doing the smaller tasks such as setting the table and doing some occasional stirring when Piper was too busy.

"This still doesn't make any sense Pheebs," said Prue. "We have no way of finding this little girl now. She might not even live in San Francisco any more and we don't even know what she looks like."

"Maybe it's not the little girl that we should be focusing on," Phoebe proposed. "Maybe whatever it is that kept attacking her is still in that house. Maybe we need to vanquish it before it can hurt anyone else."

"We don't even know what we're up against," said Prue. "Something invisible that attacks little girls is not much to go on. I don't even know where to start looking in the Book of Shadows."

"Which is why we should go back to Lucy's house and check it out," said Phoebe. "Maybe something there will give us more of an idea of what type of demon or warlock we're fighting."

"I don't know Pheebs," said Piper as she added some spices to one of the pots. "We'd be completely defenseless. Especially if it's invisible." She walked over to the fridge and pulled out a head of lettuce. She placed it on the cupboard and started preparing a salad. "Maybe we should just forget about it. Whatever it was has probably moved on to another house if no one is living there anymore."

"We can't just forget about it Piper," said Phoebe defensively. "I got these premonitions for a reason. Maybe if I'd only had the one I'd be willing to let it go, but I've had two already. Both premonitions had the same little girl in Lucy's house around the same period of time." Piper rolled her eyes and added a few vegetables to the salad.

Phoebe and Prue helped Piper carry some of the food out to the dining room table. Piper tended to cook a lot when she was stressed out or worried and she had prepared quite a large feast for just the three of them. Both of her sisters knew there was something bothering her. They sat at the table and stared expectantly over at Piper. Piper sat down and started dishing food onto her plate. She stopped suddenly and looked at both of her sisters.

"What?" she asked.

"Something's wrong," replied Prue. "What's bothering you?" Piper frowned and shrugged her shoulders.

"Nothing," she replied, avoiding eye contact with either of her suspicious sisters. "I'm fine."

"No you're not," said Phoebe. "You just made a meal that could feed a family of twenty. There's definitely something bugging you." She grabbed the dish of chicken and placed a piece on her plate, then looked back up at Piper.

"I honestly have no idea what you're talking about," said Piper insouciantly.

"Whatever," said Phoebe. "Don't tell us then, but we know something's up." There was a long awkward silence, which was interrupted suddenly when the phone rang.

"I'll get it!" said Piper quickly. She stood up and ran to the kitchen to answer the phone. Prue and Phoebe stared at each other. Both of them were thinking the same thing. There was something Piper wasn't telling them. Piper walked back into the dining room with her car keys in hand.

"That was the assistant manager at Quake," she explained as she walked through the dining room. "Two of the stoves won't light and the freezer quit. I've got to go."

"Ok," said Prue. "Call us if you need anything." They could hear Piper run to the front door and close it behind her.

"What do you think?" Phoebe asked. Prue shrugged.

"She's probably just stressed out with work," replied Prue. "She has been working a lot lately." Phoebe nodded.

Phoebe was sitting up in bed, reading a book about poltergeists and hauntings that she had borrowed from the library earlier. She was hoping they would help her to find out what type of evil they were dealing with. She could hear Piper pull her Jeep into the driveway. It was just after 10pm, which meant she had been dealing with the crisis at Quake for nearly four hours. As Piper neared her bedroom, Phoebe poked her head out into the hallway.

"How did it go?" Phoebe asked. She walked further into the hallway and stopped a few feet away from Piper.

"Crisis averted," replied Piper. "Nothing a couple hundred dollars of repairs and replacements can't fix."

"You look like you could use a few days off," said Phoebe. Piper sighed.

"Yeah right," Piper chucked. "I left a few minutes early today and look what happened. I'd hate to see what would happen if I left for a couple of days."

"Good point," said Phoebe.

"Not helping," said Piper sarcastically. Phoebe smiled and wrapped her arms around Piper.

"I'm sorry," said Phoebe. "Do you want me to come help out? I could come waitress for awhile if you want."

"I can't ask you to do that," said Piper. "You probably have more exciting things to do than work in a stuffy old restaurant."

"You didn't ask me," said Phoebe. "I offered. I'll come and help out after I get up and ready tomorrow."

"So, around noon?" Piper humoured. Phoebe smacked her arm playfully.

"I get up earlier than that, thank you," said Phoebe, pretending to sound offended. "Now if you don't mind, I'm going to go and get my beauty sleep so I can look good for all of your customers tomorrow." Piper smiled and turned to go to her room.

"Hey Piper?" Phoebe asked, her tone more serious.

"Yeah?" Piper asked. She turned to look at her sister.

"How did you get that scar on your eyebrow?" Phoebe asked. Piper looked confused.

"I don't know," replied Piper. "I think I ran into a table or something when I was little. Why?"

"No reason," replied Phoebe. "Just curious, that's all." Still with a confused look on her face, Piper turned and walked into her room. Phoebe stood in the hallway for a few seconds, contemplating her last premonition. The little girl had split her eyebrow on a bookcase, not a table. For a moment she had considered the possibility that the little girl in her premonition may have been Piper, but she shook it off. If it had been Piper, Phoebe would have known about it. Grams would have done something about and Piper would have told her and Prue about it. Piper's scar had to have been a coincidence.


	5. The Truth

Thanks so much to Sara Wolfe and LostWitch5 for the reviews! Oh, and thanks to Sara Wolfe for pointing out the mistake. I went back and fixed it so she wouldn't recognize Piper. I can't believe I didn't catch that. blushing Well, here are two more chapters for your reading pleasure. Sorry I took so long updating. I'll try to keep the updates frequent.

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Lucy closed the front door and turned towards the staircase. She stared upstairs suspiciously before ascending to the upper level of the house. She stood outside the door of the playroom and looked around. Everything looked as it had that morning before the children had been dropped off for her to baby-sit.

"I know you're in here," said Lucy. "We had a deal. You said you wouldn't hurt any of the children." She continued to stare into the empty playroom. "Show yourself!"

The room began to fill with a reddish mist. Lucy could feel the temperature begin to change. A large figure began to form within the mist. The demon loomed over Lucy. Her 5'4" frame seemed tiny compared to the 7' demon. Its face was wrinkled and pushed in and two large horns protruded from its forehead. Six months ago the demon had terrified Lucy, but she had become used to his grotesque features.

"I remember our deal very clearly," grunted the demon. "And I'm still waiting for your end of the bargain. I gave you your powers, now you need to deliver the Halliwell witch to me."

"I've tried," Lucy lied. "She hasn't been very co-operative."

"You dare lie to me!" snapped the demon. "How hard is it to get her up here? I hear her downstairs every day and not once have you tried to get her up here."

"If you've heard her, why haven't you come downstairs to get her?" Lucy asked sceptically.

"You know very well I've been cursed to stay in this room," said the demon angrily. "That's why I need the witch. I need her powers to break the curse."

"I'll get her up here, I just…" Lucy began.

"It's too late now," hissed the demon as he grabbed Lucy by the neck and lifted her in the air. "I can get her here myself. Once she realises what really happened to her granddaughter, she'll come to investigate."

"She doesn't expect anything," Lucy gasped defiantly. "Piper's always been pretty accident-prone. Penny thinks she fell down the stairs and I've convinced Piper not to tell her Grams about you." The demon let out an aggravated growl and threw Lucy across the room.

"You're going to wish you hadn't done that," he threatened. He motioned his hand upward, causing Lucy to float upward. The demon thrust his arm to the side, sending Lucy flying through the playroom window. He could hear her scream until she hit the pavement outside.

Phoebe shot out of bed and turned on her bedroom light. "Oh my god," she gasped breathlessly. "Prue!" She ran out of her room and through the corridor into Prue's bedroom. Prue shot out of bed and immediately went into defensive-mode.

"I'm up," said Prue quickly as she jumped out of bed. "What happened? What's going on?" She stood with her fists up, ready to attack.

"I had another premonition," said Phoebe. Prue sighed and let her arms relax against her sides. She was slightly disappointed that she had such a rude awakening and wasn't going to be able to kick some demon or warlock ass.

"You woke me up for that?" asked Prue. "It couldn't wait until morning?" Phoebe stood silent for a second and smiled sheepishly.

"You know… It probably could have," said Phoebe. She let out an embarrassed giggle. "But now that you're up…"

Piper tossed restlessly in her bed. She was drenched in sweat and was obviously in the middle of a nightmare.

She was sitting in the playroom at Lucy's house. She could hear the clown doll laughing maliciously in the corner and the entire room was beginning to fill with an eerie mist. As she looked up, a horrific face seemed to materialise above her. It was grinning evilly down at her and Piper could feel it's hot breath on her face. She screamed and scrambled to her feet then desperately raced for the door. She could feel her feet lift off of the floor and was thrown across the room.

Piper screamed and sat up in bed. Both of her sisters dashed out of Prue's room and into Piper's room. Even in the dark Piper looked pale. Prue and Phoebe crawled into her bed on either side of her and embraced her.

"Are you ok?" Prue asked. She tucked Piper's hair behind her ears and looked at her sister sympathetically.

"Yeah," Piper gasped. She was beginning to calm down now that the nightmare had ended. "I'm sorry, did I wake you guys up?"

"No," replied Prue. "Phoebe did."

"Yeah," said Phoebe. "I had another premonition. Lucy is dead."

"She has been for a long time," Piper sighed. "That's why we stopped going to her house after school." Prue looked questioningly at Piper, then at Phoebe.

"How do you know this and not us?" asked Prue. Piper shrugged.

"Lucy mentioned you in my premonition," said Phoebe. "I know about you and the demon Piper. Why didn't you say anything?"

"Honestly, I didn't remember any of this until just a few days ago," replied Piper. "Grams must have done a spell or something to help me forget about the demon." She looked at Prue and Phoebe. "And after all the grief Prue and I gave you over the Woogyman, I wasn't really all that anxious about telling you two about my own little childhood monster." Phoebe smiled and leaned her head on Piper's shoulder.

"So, if Lucy is dead and Piper was the little girl, what do you think your premonitions mean?" Prue asked.

"The demon is still in the house," replied Phoebe. "We need to get rid of him before he can hurt anyone else."


	6. Going After the Demon

Heh, this is kind of a short chapter. Sorry. I'll add more later, but I'm kind of stuck. Don't worry, I'll updated a.s.a.p.

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"I'm starting to think that this wasn't really a good idea," said Phoebe. She stared at the old house and shivered. "Maybe we should go back to the manor and do some research before we go running after a big, scary, witch-killing demon."

"I second that," said Piper quickly. "Come on Prue. Let's go home."

"Piper, will you calm down," said Prue. "We've battled demons before. This one is no different."

"I disagree," said Piper. "I've seen this one Prue. I know what it's capable of. I would really rather not go running in there to see it again."

"Honey, we're going to be fine," said Prue, trying to sound as confident as possible. "And we don't have much time left to get rid of this thing." She pointed to the SWA Properties sign hanging by the front gate. "People are going to be coming to clean this place up in order to sell it." Piper crossed her arms and slumped back on the car seat.

"Shall we?" asked Phoebe as she opened the passenger side door and stepped outside. Prue turned off the ignition and followed Phoebe over to the front gate. Piper rolled her eyes and followed her sisters. Prue unlatched the gate and walked toward the house with Phoebe and Piper close behind her. The three of them walked slowly into the house and wandered around.

"Wow," said Prue. "This place looks exactly like it did when we used to come here. It even smells the same." She looked around at the pictures on the walls. "I'm surprised no one came to get Lucy's stuff or fix the place up."

"I'm sure there must have been some reason for it," suggested Phoebe. "Maybe people know this place is haunted. Or maybe people aren't really keen on buying a place that someone was murdered in."

"Well, we'll worry about that later," said Prue. "We have work to do." She and Phoebe began walking toward the staircase. Piper stood at the door. All of the memories of her encounters with the demon began flooding back. Her hand was wrapped so tightly around the doorknob that her knuckles were turning white. She could feel the walls closing in on her and was finding it difficult to breathe. She needed to get out of the house.

She pulled the door open and took off running. Prue and Phoebe turned around just in time to see the door close behind Piper. Prue's mouth dropped open in disbelief.

"I can't believe she just did that!" Prue exclaimed. She and Phoebe turned and walked back down the stairs. They walked outside and looked around. They couldn't see Piper anywhere.

"Give her a break Prue," said Phoebe. "At least she got this far. I still can't go into the basement at home. This is no different." Prue sighed and got back into her car. Phoebe followed and got back into the passenger seat.

Piper ducked into a nearby alley and sat near a dumpster. She wrapped her arms around her knees and tried to catch her breath. Now she knew why Grams had cast the spell to keep her from remembering the demon. She wasn't able to sleep for weeks as a child after being attacked by the demon. At first she couldn't tell Grams about the monster at Lucy's house, but after it had killed Lucy she had no choice. Grams cast the spell on all of the girls the night Piper told her about the demon.

Grams never did go after the demon. Its powers were far too strong compared to hers and she knew that she was the one it was after. It would be up to the Charmed Ones to destroy him. She had cast a spell on the house to prevent any mortals from going inside until the girls were old enough to vanquish him, but because she was no longer around, her spell was beginning to wear off and anyone to go into the playroom was in danger.


	7. Missing

Phoebe stared down at the street from the attic window. It was nearing eight o'clock and the streets looked quite dark, lit only by the strands of streetlights along each side of the street. She and Prue had arrived back at the manor two hours ago and it had started to rain rather heavily since they got back. Piper still hadn't come home.

"Where is she?" Phoebe sighed impatiently. She turned and looked back at Prue. "What if something happened to her?"

"Phoebe, I'm sure she's fine," Prue comforted. She was flipping through the Book of Shadows, trying to find the demon that was residing in Lucy's house. She hadn't found anything yet, but she knew that if Grams had known about the demon then there would definitely be an entry somewhere in the book. "Remember how you felt when you had to face the Woogyman? Piper probably feels just the same as you did." Phoebe nodded and looked back at the street.

"How do you do it, Prue?" Phoebe asked. "How can you stay so calm when our sister is wandering around somewhere in San Francisco running from a demon that tried to kill her when she was ten years old?"

"Because I know Piper can take care of herself," replied Prue, not looking up from the book. "She'll come home when she's ready." Phoebe rolled her eyes and walked toward the attic door.

"I'm call Andy," said Phoebe. "Maybe he'll keep an eye out for her."

"Phoebe!" Prue called after her. She watched as Phoebe disappeared around the corner and headed down the staircase. She let out an annoyed sigh and closed the Book of Shadows. As she raced to catch up to Phoebe, the leather-bound cover of the Book of Shadows opened and the pages flipped quickly to a page in the book that featured the demon that Piper knew all too well.

"Phoebe, leave Andy out of this," Prue demanded as she followed Phoebe to the parlour. "Don't you dare phone him." They both stopped suddenly when they caught sight of Piper. She had just come in from outside and was standing in the conservatory. She was completely drenched and a pool of water was beginning to form around her feet.

"Piper?" Phoebe gasped. "Oh my god, honey. Are you ok?" She ran and wrapped her arms around Piper. "I was so worried. Promise you'll never disappear like that again."

"I'm sorry," said Piper, trembling from the cold. "I don't know what came over me. I totally freaked out." Prue ran to grab a towel and wrapped it around Piper's shoulders.

"Where have you been?" Prue asked. Pulling Piper into the Parlour to warm up.

"Lucy's house," Piper replied. "After you and Phoebe left I tried to go back into the house. I must have stood in the front yard for a good hour or so, but I couldn't do it."

"Piper, we've faced demons before," said Prue.

"I know," said Piper. "But this time it's different. I know what this demon can do and for some reason he has it in for me." She pulled the towel off of her shoulders and dried her hair. "Even Grams was afraid to face this demon."

"But we have something Grams didn't have," said Prue. "The power of three. Once we find a way to vanquish your demon, we'll go in there together and get rid of him. Plus, now you have the power to freeze. That demon doesn't have a chance."

"Yeah," Piper sighed. "But Prue, Grams didn't face this demon because it would attack her for her power. What if, by going to vanquish it, we're just setting ourselves up."

"He was after Grams because she was the most powerful witch at the time," Phoebe agreed. "Now that we have our powers, we're the most powerful witches and he probably knows that."

"Not helping, Phoebe," Prue grumbled. She glared at her baby sister and crossed her arms. "Look, I'm not scared of this demon and you shouldn't be either. He has no chance against the Charmed Ones."

"What I wouldn't do for your confidence," said Phoebe as she smirked at Prue.

"Well, I've had enough of demons for today," said Piper. "I'm going to go have a shower and go to bed." She flashed her sisters a weak smile and headed upstairs.

"What do you think?" Phoebe asked as she turned to look at Prue.

"I think we need to figure out how to vanquish this demon," replied Prue. "I'm going back up to the attic to check the Book of Shadows."


	8. Attacking Nocens

Piper stood in front of the bathroom mirror and dried her hair with a towel. She looked at her reflection, which stared blankly back at her. She was just as soaked as she had been when she had arrived back at the manor, but at least now she was warm. She placed the towel back on the empty towel rod and walked through the corridor to her bedroom, sporting a fuzzy, white bathrobe. She closed her bedroom door behind her and quickly changed into her pyjamas.

Phoebe and Prue burst into the room without knocking, making Piper scream and drop her hairbrush on the floor. Phoebe and Prue stopped suddenly and looked sheepishly over at Piper.

"Oh," said Prue apologetically. "Sorry. We didn't mean to scare you."

"It's all right," Piper sighed. She picked her hairbrush up off of the floor and resumed brushing her hair. "What's up?"

"We found your demon," replied Phoebe. Prue shot her a nasty look and held the Book of Shadows tightly. "I mean, Prue found your demon."

"Really?" Piper asked. "What does it say?" She moved closer to her sisters in order to see the write-up in the Book of Shadows."

"Nocens, an upper-level demon with the power to manipulate his victims," Prue read aloud. "And there's a Power of Three spell to vanquish him." Piper's gaze was fixated on the image of the demon. He looked exactly as she remembered. The illustration showed his face and slumped over body surrounded by blood-red clouds.

"This is great," said Phoebe. "We can go back to Lucy's house tomorrow afternoon and vanquish Nocens before the real estate people go in and get the place ready to sell." She looked over at Piper hopefully. "What do you think?"

Piper stood silently for a moment, considering whether or not she was ready to face her childhood monster again. The image on the paper was flooding her mind with all of the horrible memories from Lucy's house. The constant fear, the severe attacks; it was amazing how much the demon still scared her.

"Um… sure," replied Piper uncertainly. "I'll meet you at Lucy's around three o'clock." She looked away from the book and pulled her hair into a ponytail. "I'm going to go to bed now, if that's all right with you two."

"Oh," said Prue. She closed the book and held it close to her. "All right. Have a good sleep." Piper nodded and crawled into her bed as her sisters turned and left the room. Phoebe shut Piper's bedroom door behind them and looked at Prue.

"Do you think she's going to be able to go back into Lucy's house?" she whispered.

"I don't know," replied Prue. "But she doesn't really have a choice. We have to vanquish Nocens before he can hurt another innocent." Phoebe nodded and followed Prue up to the attic to put the book away.

-------------------------------------------------------

Prue drove her car up to the sidewalk in front of Lucy's house and threw it into park. She and Phoebe looked ahead at the Jeep Grand Cherokee parked in front of them. They got out of the car and walked over to Piper's vehicle, but they noticed she wasn't sitting inside.

"You don't think she went in alone, do you?" Phoebe asked, staring questioningly at Prue. Prue shrugged and looked back at Lucy's house. Piper opened the front gate and smiled at her sisters.

"Are you nuts? I'm not going in there by myself," Piper laughed. "Come on. Let's get this over with." Prue and Phoebe smiled and followed Piper toward the front door of the house. Piper took a deep breath and opened the door. Everything inside the house looked exactly the same as it had the last time they had been there. "Do you have the spell?" Piper asked before proceeding passed the threshold. Prue nodded and moved ahead of Piper.

"Yep," she replied. "You're stalling." She turned to look at her sisters and motioned for them to follow her. Phoebe grabbed Piper's hand and walked inside with her.

The three of them walked slowly up the staircase. Piper slowed down to look at the bookcase. There were a few shards of glass on the floor around it, some of the picture frames were tipped over, and some of the books were pulled out. It was in the same state as it had been after Piper had been thrown down the stairs. From what she remembered, Grams didn't have the girls go back to Lucy's house after that incident, which meant Lucy must have been killed by Nocens not too long afterward.

She could feel Phoebe tug at her arm, pulling her further up the staircase. Phoebe was avoiding touching the railing to keep herself from having another premonition. She looked back at Piper and smiled supportively.

"Maybe we should go back," Piper hesitated. She tried to let go of Phoebe's hand in order to stop ascending the staircase.

"We're going to be fine," Phoebe whispered. "Nocens was after Grams before because she was the most powerful witch at the time. He's most likely going to be after Prue now." Prue nodded in agreement.

"Right," said Piper uneasily. She followed her sisters silently up the stairs, not wanting to alert Nocens to their presence. When they reached the top of the stairs, Piper's gaze immediately went towards the door of the playroom. The door was propped open slightly, and there didn't seem to be any movement inside.

Phoebe and Prue walked passed the playroom, wanting to explore the rest of the house before going after Nocens. Piper stood outside the playroom and placed her hand cautiously on the doorknob. As she slowly pushed the door open, she could feel something grab her arm and pull her into the room. The door slammed loudly behind her, startling both Prue and Phoebe.

"Piper?" Prue exclaimed. She ran to the playroom door and desperately tried to open it. She stood back and tried to open it with her power, but the door was stuck closed. They could hear Piper scream and something slammed against the door. Both Prue and Phoebe continued to pull at the door, trying as hard as possible to get it open in order to save their sister. "Piper! Answer me!" Prue shouted.

Phoebe clasped her hand over her mouth and stood back to let Prue try to open the door. She tried not to cry as she listened to Piper screaming in the playroom. She swore she could hear the old clown doll laughing in the background. After a few minutes, the playroom fell silent. Prue stepped back and listened closely to hear any movement behind the door. The lock on the playroom door clicked open and the door opened slowly.

Piper was standing completely still in the center of the room. Her face was expressionless, her nose was bleeding and she had a few random cuts and scratches. Her head was down, but her eyes were staring blankly toward her sisters. Before her sisters could move into the playroom to check on her, her eyes rolled back into her head and she fell limply to the floor.

"Piper!" exclaimed Phoebe. She ran into the playroom and knelt beside her fallen sister. "Wake up, sweetie. Come on." She tried to shake Piper awake as Prue ran into the room.

"Is she ok?" Prue asked.

"I think so," replied Phoebe. "Where is he?"

"I don't know," replied Prue. "We need to get her out of here. Let's go." She helped Phoebe pick Piper off of the floor and the two of them carried her out to Prue's car. Prue drove her car back to the manor with Piper laying in the back seat while Phoebe took Piper's car. Along the way, Piper's eyes flipped open. Her pupils were a hellish-red and an evil smile spread across her face.


	9. On the Run

Prue drove quickly back to the manor. She had no idea what had happened to Piper, but Prue felt she had to get her as far away from that house as possible. When she looked in the rearview mirror, Nocens was staring back at her.

"Thanks for the lift," he hissed. Prue slammed on the breaks and skid to a stop in the middle of the street. She looked back at the rearview mirror, then back at Piper. Piper was sitting up, looking terrified and confused.

"What happened?" she gasped. "How did I get here?" Prue forced the car into 'park' and crawled into the back seat. She threw her arms around Piper and squeezed her tightly.

"Are you ok?" she asked.

"Prue, I'm fine," Piper replied breathlessly. Prue was hugging her so tightly that it was difficult to breathe. "What happened with Nocens?" Prue let her go and avoided meeting Piper's gaze.

"I think we let him out of the house," replied Prue regretfully. "He got away." Piper looked devastated.

"But how?" Piper asked. "I thought he needed your power to get out. How did he get your power?" A car pulled up behind them, temporarily blinding Prue with its headlights. She blocked the light with her hand and crawled back into the front seat.

"Maybe your powers were enough," said Prue. She put the car back into 'drive' just as the driver behind her sounded his horn. Prue glared at him in the rearview mirror and continued driving toward the manor.

"That doesn't make sense," said Piper. "My powers are nowhere near as powerful as Grams' were and I thought he was after the most powerful witch of our time."

"I don't know," said Prue. She drove her car into the driveway and pulled the key from the ignition. "But he got out of that house somehow and he used you to do it." The two of them got out of the car and walked into the manor through the conservatory door.

"This is bad," said Piper.

"I agree," replied Prue. Phoebe ran into the room and embraced Piper. Piper rolled her eyes and hugged her sister back.

"I'm so glad you're ok," said Phoebe.

"Yes, I'm fine," said Piper. "But we have a more serious issue to deal with right now. If Nocens was able to escape, we need to find him before he can hurt anyone else." Prue nodded.

"We should check the Book of Shadows again," Prue suggested. She and Piper began walking toward the staircase, but Piper stopped suddenly. She looked down at Phoebe, who was still holding Piper tightly around her waist.

"Uh, Pheebs?" said Piper. "You gonna let go?"

"No," replied Phoebe. Piper smiled and pried Phoebe's arms from around her waist. She took Phoebe by the hand and the three of them ran upstairs toward the attic.

"Is there a summoning spell?" Prue asked as Piper looked through the Book of Shadows.

"No," replied Piper. "Pheebs, can you try getting a premonition?"

"I can try," replied Phoebe. She placed her hands on the Book of Shadows and closed her eyes. They all waited in silence until Phoebe sighed and pulled her hands away. "Nothing," she groaned. "This power sucks."

"You'll get a premonition when we need one," said Prue. "Maybe Nocens decided to lay low for awhile."

"I highly doubt it," Piper sighed. "So, now what?"

"We wait," replied Prue. "I have a feeling this demon is going to come back for us."

---------------------------------------------------

Piper walked from the washroom to her bedroom. Both of her sisters had gone to bed a few hours before, but Piper was having trouble going to sleep. She felt safe when Nocens was unable to leave Lucy's house, but now he could come for her or her sisters at any time. She crawled into bed and stared up at the ceiling. The manor was completely silent.

After a few minutes, Piper was beginning to fall asleep. She could hear the grandfather clock downstairs chime three times. She hadn't realized how late she had stayed up. As she closed her eyes and began falling asleep, her bedroom door slowly swung closed. The lamp on her bedside table flickered on and off a few times before turning off completely.

Piper opened her eyes and looked around the dark room. She could feel someone standing at the end of her bed.

"Prue?" she asked hopefully. She sat up in bed and stared into the dark.

"Guess again, witch," replied Nocens. Before Piper could scream, Nocens leapt at her and disappeared.


	10. Nocens takes over

Piper moved slowly through the corridor toward Prue's bedroom. She quietly pushed the door open and moved to the foot of Prue's bed. Sensing someone in her room with her, Prue sat up in bed and looked around blindly. She stopped scanning the room when she noticed two, glowing red eyes staring down at her. Apart from the eyes, Prue recognised her little sister immediately.

"Piper?" she groaned, still half asleep. "Are you ok?"

"You're next," said Piper. Her lips were moving, but the voice was not her own. The voice didn't even sound human. Piper's eyes returned to normal and she fell to the floor. Prue leapt out of bed and ran to her sister's side.

"Piper!" she demanded. "Wake up." She forced Piper onto her back and tried to wake her up. Piper's eyes flipped open and her torso lifted unnaturally off of the floor. She grabbed Prue by the neck and began choking her.

"Use your powers on me, witch," said demonic voice. Prue stared into her sister's eyes and desperately tried to pry her hands away from her neck.

"You're crazy if you think I'm going to use my powers on my sister," Prue grunted breathlessly. Piper glared at her and released her hold on Prue's neck. Her eyes rolled back into her head and she collapsed on Prue's lap. Nocens arose behind Piper from a cloud of red mist. He stared threateningly down at Prue and let out a low growl.

"How about now?" he grumbled. He stopped suddenly when he heard someone chanting quietly at the door. He howled loudly and evaporated out of the room.

"Phoebe?" Prue asked. She stared at the silhouette standing at the door. Phoebe dropped the Book of Shadows and ran over to her sisters.

"Are you ok?" she gasped. "Did it work?" Piper was beginning to regain consciousness and pushed herself into a sitting position. She frowned and looked at both of her sisters.

"How the hell did I get here?" she groaned. Phoebe pulled her to her feet and wrapped one arm around Piper's waist.

"Sleepwalking," Prue quipped suddenly, interrupting Prue before Phoebe could tell Piper about Nocens. "You were sleepwalking." Piper looked at her sceptically. "Yeah, it was weird. You just came in here and fell asleep on the floor."

"Prue, I don't sleepwalk," said Piper. Prue shrugged and tried to look as innocent as possible.

"Apparently you do now," said Prue. "Come, let's get you back into bed." Piper stared at Prue and tried to read her expression for some answers, but quickly gave up and let Phoebe lead her back to her bedroom. Once Piper was tucked comfortably into her own bed, Phoebe left the room and shut the door behind her.

"Why did you lie to her?" Phoebe whispered as she met up with Prue in the corridor. "She knows Nocens got out of Lucy's house. She should know that he's after us. That he's come to the manor and possessed her."

"I know," said Prue. "But she's been through enough today. Let's give her a chance to relax before having to go after Nocens."

"But he's coming after us," said Phoebe. "That's the second time he's attacked Piper today. He's going to keep coming back. He's not going to wait around until we're all rested before attacking us again. We need Piper to help us read the vanquishing spell in order to get rid of him."

"You're right," said Prue. "Maybe we should stay with her. Keep watch until Nocens comes back for us." Phoebe nodded.

"That's more like it," she said, a grin spread across her face. "Let's get ready to kick some demon ass!" She ran back into Piper's room and jumped into her bed.

"What are you doing?" Piper groaned. "Why aren't you in bed? It's 3am."

"I am in bed," said Phoebe as she crawled under the covers. "Your bed." She flashed a cheeky smile at Piper, then looked at Prue.

"I see that," said Piper. She didn't sound impressed. "What are we? Six? Why are we doing the whole sisterly sleepover thing here?" She looked at Prue, hoping for a real answer."

"Because we think Nocens is going to come back," replied Prue. "I lied before. You weren't really sleepwalking. You were possessed."

"I know," said Piper. "What, do you think I'm stupid?" Prue looked at her in disbelief and sat on the side of Piper's bed.

"Why didn't you say something then?" Prue asked.

"I figured you probably had a plan or something," replied Piper.

"Not really," said Prue. "Basically, two of us are going to sleep, while one of us keeps watch and then we'll switch off."

"That way he won't wait until we're all exhausted to attack us again," Phoebe added. Piper nodded.

"Ok," said Piper. "So, who's standing watch first?" Prue raised her hand to volunteer. She pulled up a chair next to the bed and made herself comfortable. Phoebe curled comfortably under the covers and shut her eyes while Piper sat back against her pillow. She sighed deeply and shut her eyes. She bit her lip anxiously, then sat back up.

"I can't do this," said Piper. "This is weird. I can't sleep with you just sitting there."

"Deal with it, missy," said Prue. "I'm not going anywhere and you need to sleep. Now, lay back down and go to sleep." Piper rolled her eyes and rested back against her pillow. Within a few minutes, both Phoebe and Piper were fast asleep. Prue sat watch for hours, but Nocens didn't appear that night. He had plans of his own.


	11. The Final Chapter

Sorry everybody, I totally forgot where I was going with this story. I'm kind of flying by the seat of my pants here, so bare with me. Constructive criticism is always welcomed. Now, for the final chapter of this story…

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Prue shifted uncomfortably in her chair. She'd been watching out for Nocens all night and sitting in the same position for hours was beginning to take a toll on her butt. She stopped hastily when Phoebe started to stir. Once she was sure both of her sisters were still asleep, she wandered silently out of the room and went to the washroom.

Moving as quickly as possible, she left the washroom and moved back toward Piper's bedroom. Sensing someone behind her, she turned around and held out her arm, ready to send the intruder flying.

She stared into the red, glowing eyes of Nocens. His head was bent low to avoid rubbing against the ceiling. He had a large grin spread across his face. As her eyes adjusted to the lack of light, Prue soon realized why Nocens looked so happy. Dangling from his grip was Phoebe. Nocens had his hand cupped around her mouth to keep her from calling for help. In his other hand was an athame, pointed threateningly at Phoebe's chest.

"Use your powers on me, witch," Nocens demanded. "Or your baby sister dies." He pulled his hand back to gain momentum and moved to stab Phoebe. Out of instinct, Prue flung her hand through the air and sent the athame flying out of Nocens' hand. Nocens' grin grew wider and he dropped Phoebe. "Thanks!" he said enthusiastically as he disappeared from sight.

"Phoebe, are you ok?" Prue asked as she ran to help Phoebe to her feet.

"I'm fine," Phoebe groaned. "I don't know what happened. One minute I'm fast asleep, the next I'm being dangled in the air by a big, hairy demon."

"Where's Piper?" Prue asked. The two sisters ran through the corridor toward Piper's room. Inside, Piper was still fast asleep in her bed. Prue let out a sigh of relief and resumed her position on the chair next to Piper's bed.

"Prue, why don't you go to bed," Phoebe whispered. "I've had a few hours to sleep already and you look exhausted."

"I can't sleep now," said Prue. "Something's not right."

"What do you mean?" Phoebe asked. She sat on the floor near Prue and rested her back against the side of Piper's bed.

"I used my power on Nocens," replied Prue. "Why did he just take off. I thought he wanted my power."

Phoebe sat silently, contemplating Nocens motive. "He attacks the most powerful witch of the time, right?" Phoebe stated. "But maybe your power isn't the strongest."

"What are you talking about?" Prue asked. "Are you trying to say your power is stronger than any of our powers?"

"Ok, that hurt," said Phoebe, feeling extremely offended by Prue's statement. "But no. Maybe he needs all three of our powers. We're the strongest witches of our time as the Charmed Ones."

"That makes sense," said Prue. "So, we have to vanquish him before he gets your power."

"Which is easy," said Phoebe. "Because I can't always get a premonition when I want to. He can't force me to use my power."

"But, just to be sure," said Prue. "You sleep and I'll keep watch. If you're the only one awake it will be easier for him to get to you."

"Are you sure?" Phoebe asked.

"Positive," replied Prue. "And besides, I am far too wound up to sleep now." Phoebe smiled and crawled into bed beside Piper.

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Prue lifted her head abruptly as she began to nod off. Her eyes rolled back and her head fell forward, then bounced back as Prue regained control. She wasn't sure how long she'd been awake, but she was exhausted. She wasn't sure how much longer she could stay awake to keep watch. She was tempted to wake one of them to have them take over, but that would be admitting defeat. She felt the need to prove to her sisters that she could keep watch all night until they woke up.

Prue covered her mouth as she yawned and rested her head against the back of the chair. She allowed her eyes to close, just to rest them for a moment.

Prue woke to the sound of Piper in the corner of the room. Piper was breathing heavily and leaning against the side of her armoire. She seemed to be struggling against something, but nothing was there.

"Piper, are you ok?" Prue asked as she moved toward her. Piper looked at her with a blank stare.

"_Keep away!"_ Piper replied in a demonic voice. Her face softened. "Prue, help me," she begged. An athame materialized in her hand and she stepped toward Prue threateningly.

"Get out! Get out! Get out!" Piper screamed, dropping the athame. Phoebe shot out of bed and stared at her sisters.

"What's happening?" Phoebe asked.

"Nocens," replied Prue. "Go get the vanquishing spell. Quickly!" Phoebe grabbed a piece of paper from her pocket and ran to Prue's side. Prue looked at her sister with a surprised expression on her face.

"What?" Phoebe shrugged. "I've learned to plan ahead." Prue ran behind Piper and held her tightly from behind. Phoebe stood beside them and held out the vanquishing spell so they could all read it.

As the girls chanted, Piper's personality continued to alternate between Nocens' and her own. They continued to chant until the room was illuminated in red light. A terrifying scream filled the room as Piper collapsed in Prue's arms. Nocens arose in the center of the room, frantically thrashing at the air. A beam of light exploded from his chest, followed by a dozen other beams of light. He screamed as he burst into flames and evaporated from the room.

Prue and Phoebe watched in awe as Nocens disappeared from sight. Piper groaned and looked around the room.

"Is he gone?" she gasped as Prue helped her to her feet. Prue smiled and nodded.

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The girls wandered down the staircase just as someone knocked on the front door.

"I'll get that," said Prue. "Then I am going to bed. I am so tired."

"Next time I'll be the lookout," said Phoebe. "I promise."

"You couldn't be lookout," Piper laughed. "You would fall asleep."

"Would not," Phoebe giggled. She and Piper walked toward the kitchen to get breakfast.

Prue opened the manor's front door and looked up at Andy.

"It's a bit early for personal calls Mr. Trudeau," Prue humored. "What brings you here at 6:30 in the morning?"

"We got a few noise complaints down at the station," replied Prue. "Some of the neighbors said there were bright lights and screams coming from upstairs. Do you want to tell me what's going on?"

"You know, I'd like to," said Prue. "But I can't. All I can do is promise you that we won't be making any more noise tonight."

"Good," said Andy. He looked at her suspiciously. "You know, you can tell me things. I'll understand."

"When the time is right," said Prue. She lost eye contact with him.

"Now's not the right time I take it," said Andy. Prue shook her head.

"Soon though, I promise," said Prue. Andy nodded. He gave her one last look before heading back to his squad car. Prue closed the door and went to the kitchen to see her sisters. Piper and Phoebe were looking at the Book of Shadows.

"What are we doing?" Prue asked. "More vanquishing?"

"Nope," replied Phoebe.

"Crossing out demons," replied Piper. She drew a large black 'x' over Nocens' face.

"Someone seems overly happy this morning," said Prue.

"That's right," said Piper. "I've been afraid of this demon for over ten years. Now he's finally gone." Prue hugged her sister and looked at the picture of Nocens.

"Now you're absolutely positive you don't have anymore childhood demons that we should watch for?" Prue asked.

"Nope," replied Piper. "You?"

"Of course not," replied Prue. "Pheebs?"

"Uh uh," replied Phoebe. "For the time being, we are demon-free."

"Let's just hope it lasts," said Prue. "But for now, I am going to bed." Piper and Phoebe smiled and watched as Prue left the room. Piper looked down at the picture of the face that had haunted her since childhood. She let out a relieved sigh and closed the Book of Shadows knowing that she would never have to worry about her childhood demon ever again.


End file.
